Study Bava Batra folio 77A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אמר אמימר, הלכתא: אותיות נקנות במסירה, כרבי. אמר ליה רב אשי לאמימר: גמרא, או סברא? אמר ליה: גמרא. אמר רב אשי: סברא נמי הוא – דאותיות מילי נינהו, ומילי במילי לא מיקנין.
Ameimar says: The halakha is that letters are acquired by merely transferring the document to the buyer, in accordance with the opinion of R' Yehuda HaNasi. Rav Ashi said to Ameimar: Is your ruling based on a tradition or on your own logical reasoning? Ameimar said to him: It is based on a tradition. Rav Ashi said: It also stands to reason that the contents of a promissory note are acquired through transferring, as letters, i.e., the contents of a promissory note, are words, i.e., the buyer is acquiring the right to a monetary obligation, not a physical item, and words cannot be acquired through other words.
ולא?! והאמר רבה בר יצחק אמר רב: שני שטרות הם – ״זכו בשדה לפלוני וכתבו לו את השטר״ – חוזר בשטר, ואינו חוזר בשדה.
The Talmud asks: And is it true that documents cannot be acquired through words? But doesn’t Rabba bar Yitzḥak say that Rav says: There are two types of documents. The first type is where one says to others: Take possession of this field for so-and-so and write the document for him as proof of the sale of the field. In this case, he may renege with regard to the document, i.e., he may change his mind and tell them not to write it. But he may not renege with regard to the field, as the buyer has already acquired it.
״על מנת שתכתבו לו את השטר״ – חוזר בין בשטר בין בשדה.
The second type of document is where he said: Take possession of this field for so-and-so on the condition that you write him a document. If the document has not yet been delivered he can retract his instruction both with regard to the document and with regard to the field, as the transfer of the field is dependent on the writing of the document.